Iowa loses in NIT first round on buzzer beater

A three-point shot at the buzzer last night in the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, ended the Iowa men’s basketball season. The Hawkeyes lost to St. Louis by a single point, 70-69, in an N-I-T opening round game. St. Louis led at one other point in the contest — when the score was 2-0. Iowa coach Steve Alford says his team played a solid game, but had some bad breaks at the end. Alford says “the N-I-T scheduled a game in a building that’s never hosted a college basketball game.” Alford says the clock malfunctioned all night and he doesn’t think five seconds was left for that last possession by St. Louis which yielded the game-winning basket. Alford says the Hawks were hoping to get some luck going in the N-I-T. Alford says the team’s had its share of “very bad luck” the past two years, but the coach says he’s proud of his team for not taking the easy way out and giving up. Senior Glen Worley scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds in his final game as a Hawkeye. Worley says “when you’re out there and the scorekeeper and the refs are going against you, it’s kinda hard.” He says the team showed a lot of resiliency during this season, but to end in such dramatic fashion is “real sad.” The Hawks close the season with a 16 and 13 record.